610 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
BOt to do it. A pear tree here, and a peach tree 
there, cost so little that one is inclined to think 
they are of no account, but when the fruit is ripe 
they are appreciated. A siugle step from one room 
to another is “ only one step,” but the thought of 
a stairway made out of these steps during a life 
time, is enough to almost make a woman’s back 
ache. Look well to the details, and see that the 
Httle things are right, for it pays in the end. 
A Convenient Ash Box. 
44 W. M. V.,” Glen Cove, L. I., sends a sketch and 
description of an Ash Box which he has had in use 
for a number of years. The Box can be made of 
cheap hemlock lumber, and of a size that the lumber 
at hand will cut without waste ; seven feet in length 
by three feet in width, and four feet high, may ans¬ 
wer in most circumstances. A lid, A, is provided 
occupying nearly one-half of the top, as shown in 
fig-1, and also a side door, B, used for removing 
the ashes. Two strips of board are fastened within, 
and lengthwise of, the box, upon which the sifter 
or sieve rests as it is shaken, as shown in vertical 
view in fig. 2. The sieve, which is an ordinary one, 
costing perhaps twenty-five cents at the store, has 
a long handle fastened to it; with this the ash box 
and sifting apparatus is complete. The advantages 
claimed by Mr. V. for this ash box are : The ishes 
can be sifted without making any dust, as wh n the 
lid is closed the whole is confined within the box. 
The ashes and sieve are kept from exposure to 
gtorms, and the latter is always in place and ready 
for use. It dispenses with a disagreeable looking 
heap of ashes often found on exhibition the year 
round ; and lastly it is cheaply and easily made. 
Any further description of the construction of the 
ash box or the method of working the sifter, is un¬ 
necessary. It may be added, however, that as the 
atructure is of wood, care should be taken that there 
be no live coals among the ashes when they go to 
r- 
1 
,la 
1 .1 
I 
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Fig. 2.— CROSS-BARS AND SIFTER, 
the ash box. A coat of paint, or even whitewash, 
will add to the appearance of this useful and 
economical article and at a very trifling outlay. 
Muck and Peat Pay. 
The use of muck and peat pays abundantly, and 
we notice that the man who has once fairly experi¬ 
mented with these fertilizers in the compost heap 
rarely abandons them. They are soundly convert¬ 
ed to the use of these absorbents, and every dry 
spell in summer and autumn finds them delving in 
the swamps and peat bogs. There is the fruit yard 
where we began using peat in the compost twenty 
years ago still fat and flourishing, and bearing 
abundance of the finest fruit every year. For ten 
years, peat, composted with stable manure, was ap¬ 
plied without stint, and the roots have an abundant 
supply of food. There is the large farm and nur¬ 
sery of our neighbor that has been dosed with muck 
compost for twenty-five years, and he keeps straight 
on digging and composting as if it was the ouly 
way in which he could make his soil yield paying 
crops. No better nursery trees are raised in the 
State, and his orchards are models of clean, well- 
fed, productive trees. He has plenty of fruit when 
others fail. Tens of thousands of loads of muck 
have been incorporated with the soil, and the crops 
never fail from lack of nourishment. There are two 
brothers just beyond who follow fruit and truck 
farming, and have a yearly income of from four¬ 
teen to twenty thousand dollars a year from their 
two farms. We never fail to find, at this season of 
the year, a compost heap of enormous proportions 
close by their barns. The best farmers we know of 
who have the facilities, are using peat and muck 
largely, and are extending the use. This fact is 
about as good an advertisement of the value of 
these absorbents as could possibly be had. They 
are a good dressing for all light gravelly or sandy 
soils, without any amendments. They are most 
economically used probably for making compost 
heaps upon the fields that are to be broken up next 
spring. Any active green manure from the yards, 
stables, or the neighboring market town, are good 
for these heaps, in the proportion of one load of 
manure for four or five of the peat. The yard and 
stables should be abundantly supplied with them, 
and it is always time for more peat when the smell 
cff ammonia is perceptible. Near the shore various 
kinds of sea-weed make an admirable compost with 
peat. Fish scrap is still better, either raw from the 
factory, or dried, and at least ten parts of peat to 
one of the scrap may be used to advantage. Oys¬ 
ter-shell lime, fresh from the kiln, makes an excel¬ 
lent compost with peat or muck. Wood ashes are 
still better, and those who live near villages are 
still able to procure these in considerable quanti¬ 
ties. It matters little what agent is used to throw 
the heap into a ferment, and decompose the vege¬ 
table fibre. After twenty-five years of persistent 
use of muck and peat in the compost heap, we have 
abiding faith in their great value as fertilizers. 
Trucks for Boats—Two Kinds. 
“ D. S. L.,” Charlestown, Mass., has aboat which 
he keeps in a house a short distance from the bay, 
Fig. 1.— A TRUCK FOR A BOAT. 
and employs a Truck for moving it from the store¬ 
house to the water. This Truck is construct¬ 
ed as shown in fig. 1. The wheels are of maple, 
two inches thick and eight inches in diameter, 
united by an axle made of gas pipe, one foot in 
length. A piece of spruce, 4 by 4 inches square, 
rests upon the axle, to which the top pieces or 
“wings” are bolted. The wings are 3 by 4 inches 
square, built to approximately fit the boat, with a 
space left between them for the keel of the boat. 
The dimensions will of course vary, according to 
size of the boat. The wheels might be smaller, if 
the course to be run over is perfectly smooth, and 
larger if the roadway is rough. They should be 
quite near together so as to secure proper stability, 
and diminish as much as possible the tendency to 
twist around. The same gentleman sends another 
form of truck, which is very good when it is to be 
used on smooth planking only. It consists of a 
board of a suitable size to give good support (12 by 
18 inches) with a roller fixed beneath, something' 
like a bread-board and rolling pin, as shown in fig. 
2. With some such truck as this, or the one shown 
in fig. 1, a boat can be easily moved over any land 
that is reasonably smooth or other hard surface.. 
Another Small Barn. 
“T. H. R., Jr.,” Dayton, Ohio, having seen the 
“Plan fora Small Barn” in the September Agri¬ 
culturist, page 349, sends a plan of his bam which 
Fig. 1.—A SMALL BARN. 
he has recently built. He thinks it preferable for a.i 
small place to the one given in September, “as it 
will cost less, being smaller and yet sufficiently 
roomy for two horses, or a horse aud a cow and 
two vehicles, besides presenting a better appear¬ 
ance. It also obviates the necessity of going behind 
the horses w r hen feeding, which is often desirable,, 
as in families having no hired help the feeding is- 
sometimes in¬ 
trusted to the 
children.” The 
outsideappear- 
ance of the 
barn is shown 
in figure 1, and 
is certainly 
pleasing to 
the eye. The 
ground floor, 
figure 2,is 18 by 
24 feet, 8 feet 
between joints. 
Fig. 2.— FLOOR FLAN OF BARN. 
LOFT 
The carriage room, C, is 13 by 18 
feet, with sliding doors 10 feet wide. The horse is 
led through the door D, from the carriage room to 
the stable. The box, E, containing food, connects- 
by two “spouts” with grain bins in the loft. The 
hay “shoot” is 
shown at S, and 
is between the 
mangers. The 
harness closet, 
E, is placed 
under the stair¬ 
way. A win¬ 
dow, W, gives 
light to the feed 
room and the „ vv 
stalls. The loft, Fl S" 3 "- pLAN OF THB LOFT ' 
figure 3, is 61 feet to the plates, and with a three- 
quarter pitch to the roof there is ample room for 
hay and straw. The barn is built of hemlock, sided 
with J-inch dressed boards, 12 inches wide, and 
battened. It cost, complete and painted, $200. 
S 
m 
Dairy Farming consists of the feeding of 
cows for the production of the largest quantity of 
the richest milk, either for direct sale or partly for 
making butter and cheese. It takes the forms in 
summer of grazing ou natural or artificial grasses, 
and housing in winter on hay and roots, or soiling 
near towns and cities where the food is grain refuse 
from the breweries and cut green fodder. The 
"surplus stock of bull calves is sold for veal, while 
the best heifers are kept to maintain dairy stock. 
This is a very safe system of farming, there being 
immediate returns on a small or moderate capital 
invested. The expense of cultivation is small, the 
farm being kept seeded down with artificial grasses 
